MOUZ completed a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Team Spirit with a quadruple-overtime victory on the third map to reach the Group A upper-bracket final of the BLAST Open Spring event on Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Team Vitality had an easier time in the other Group A upper-bracket semifinal, trouncing Virtus.pro 2-0.
Two Group A lower-bracket quarterfinals also were contested on Friday, with Team Falcons eliminating The Huns Esports 2-0 and FaZe Clan sweeping Astralis 2-0.
The $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event starts with the 16 teams divided into two groups for double-elimination play. The group winners move into the playoff semifinals, the group runners-up head to the quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams in each group become the low seeds in the quarterfinals.
All group-stage matches are best-of-three.
The single-elimination playoffs, to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, begin March 28. All playoff matches are best-of-three until the grand final on March 30, which will be best-of-five. The winning team will earn $150,000.
On Friday, Team Spirt opened with a 13-3 triumph on Dust II, but MOUZ replied with a 16-13 overtime victory on Nuke. The final map, Ancient, turned into a four-overtime marathon won by MOUZ, 25-22.
Hungary’s Adam “torzsi” Torzsas paced MOUZ with 66 kills and a plus-12 kill-death differential. Russia’s Danil “donk” Kryshkovets logged an astounding 83 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential for Team Spirit.
Team Vitality got past Virtus.pro 13-6 on Anubis, 13-5 on Inferno. France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut registered 36 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential for Vitality. Russia’s Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev wound up with 23 kills and a minus-5 K-D differential for Virtus.pro.
Team Falcons worked overtime on Inferno for a 16-13 victory before closing out The Huns Esports with a 13-6 decision on Anubis. Bosnia’s Nikola “NiKo” Kovac amassed 46 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential for Team Falcons. Yesuntumur “nin9” Gantulga finished with 37 kills and a level K-D differential for the all-Mongolian Huns.
FaZe Clan downed Astralis 13-7 on Train, 13-6 on Nuke. Latvia’s Helvijs “broky” Saukants produced 38 kills and a plus-21 K-D differential for FaZe Clan. Martin “stavn” Lund recorded 28 kills and a minus-1 K-D differential for the all-Danish Astralis squad.
Group B resumes action Saturday with four matches:
–Upper-bracket semifinal: G2 Esports vs. Eternal Fire
–Upper-bracket semifinal: Natus Vincere vs. The MongolZ
–Lower-bracket quarterfinal: Imperial Esports vs. Team Liquid
–Lower-bracket quarterfinal: FURIA vs. M80
BLAST Open Spring prize pool
1. $150,000
2. $60,000
3-4. $40,000
5-6. $20,000
7-8. $10,000
9-12. $7,500
13-16. $5,000 — The Huns Esports, Astralis, two teams TBD
–Field Level Media
